INFORMATION ABOUT CAMP ZULU



               

      Camp Zulu is a Nonprofit organization located in the state of Missouri. We recently filed for 501 (c)(3) tax exempt status through the IRS. Our goal is to provide outreach and support for school-age children of service-connected veterans and their families. Every child deserves happy memories, Camp Zulu is designed to help children of service-connected veterans make new friends and increase socialization for everyone involved, but most of all to just have fun while making new memories with their families. We are also in the process of adding to our Bylaws to include the children and families of our injured First Responders.

Difficult experiences can be harder to cope with when it feels like no one, not even family or friends, understands what you went through and are going through. Things can be even more difficult if someone does not have support or has a very limited support network to help them. Connecting with other veterans and their families, and reaching out for support can help to overcome isolation, stigma and increase enjoyment of life. We hope to help by making happy memories and memorable moments through planned activities to help overcome the isolation that not only affects the veteran, but also their children, significant others, family members some of whom are also caregivers. We hope to participate in hobbies and focus on activities the veteran and their family likes and that everyone as a whole would enjoy together.

We would do outreach through at least one annual gathering while building memories and having fun. We're also hoping to be able to provide services for smaller group gatherings in other areas throughout the year, as we grow through outreach and to help provide support to the children of our Nations' injured and their families.

          The purpose behind the camp/retreat is for the kids/families to have fun as they would at any other place, the only difference is everyone has something in common at Camp Zulu, they all have a parent or older sibling with a service-connected military disability. At school, most kids don't know another student that even had a parent serve in the military, more less become injured doing so. When you have injuries/disabilities it makes even the simplest things hard sometimes, and it can be stressful and hard on the whole family. Simple things such as trying to clean up a messy house so your kiddo can have a playdate or friend over is hard, spouses working full-time while having to do more on the homefront is hard, taking the kids to after-school activities and sports can be harder for those affected than it is for others, there is quite a few things and each of us may have different service-connected conditions, some may be worse than others, some may have more than one type of injury, we all have different situations and scenarios.
We have many different possibilities we can work with and hopefully we can branch out as we know there are other families across the United States who would benefit from Camp Zulu.